Nox stood at the entrance to the cafeteria and just took in the chaos for a second. Tables were flipped over everywhere, chairs scattered around like someone had thrown a massive tantrum. Food trays and backpacks were scattered across the floor, along with puddles of spilled drinks mixing with darker stains he didn't want to think about too hard.
There were at least a dozen of those dog creatures prowling around, sniffing at the debris and occasionally fighting over scraps of something that might have been someone's lunch. Or might have been someone. A few students were huddled behind the serving counter in the back, trying to be invisible and failing miserably.
Perfect. More targets.
He heard Ava's footsteps behind him, getting closer. She was breathing hard, completely out of breath from trying to keep up with him.
"Jesus, how are you so fast when you look so..." she started, then caught herself mid-sentence.
He turned to look at her, his face completely blank. She immediately jumped back, hands up in a defensive gesture.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she said quickly, her words tumbling over each other.
He didn't bother responding. 'What's the point? She meant exactly what she said.' Everyone always did. They saw his skinny frame and his trashed clothes and just assumed he was weak. Well, that assumption was about to get a lot of monsters killed.
Without another word, he sprinted into the cafeteria.
The closest dog looked up from whatever it was chewing on, a low growl starting in its throat. Nox reached it before the sound could even fully form and drove his fist straight into its skull.
The impact was devastating. The creature flew backward into a stack of plastic chairs with enough force to shatter them into pieces. It landed in a heap of broken plastic and didn't move again.
Another one came at him from the left, teeth bared and red eyes blazing. He caught it mid-leap, his hands wrapping around its throat, and slammed it down onto a table so hard the metal legs buckled and the whole thing collapsed. The monster's spine made a wet cracking sound. That one didn't get back up either.
"Holy shit," one of the students behind the counter whispered, his voice carrying in the sudden quiet. "Who the hell is that guy?"
The voice sounded older, probably a senior. Of course they didn't recognize him. Upperclassmen never paid attention to the younger kids unless they were using them as entertainment.
"Isn't that the kid who always gets picked on?" another voice said from behind the counter, female this time.
A third dog charged him while his attention was on the students. He sidestepped at the last second, grabbed it by the tail as it passed, then swung the whole creature around his head like some insane weapon before letting go. It crashed into the metal serving counter with a sound like a car accident, leaving a massive dent. The hiding students yelped and scrambled further back.
"Something tells me we should not piss him off," the first voice said again, noticeably shakier now.
Nox heard that and almost smiled. 'Finally, someone gets it.' Too bad it took the world ending and supernatural strength for people to finally take him seriously.
Two more creatures came at him from different angles, trying to coordinate their attack. Smarter than he expected from mutant dogs, but not smart enough. He grabbed the nearest lunch tray, a heavy metal one, and threw it like a discus. The edge caught the first creature right in the neck, nearly decapitating it. Dark blood sprayed across the already stained floor.
The second one actually managed to jump on him, its claws scraping against his chest, tearing through his shirt but barely scratching his skin. For a split second he thought it might actually hurt, then remembered his boosted stats. He grabbed the thing by the scruff of its neck and held it at arm's length while it snapped and snarled uselessly at the air.
"You're not even trying," he said to the creature, sounding bored. Then he punched it in the face hard enough that its jaw just disappeared, replaced by a mess of teeth and blood.
He dropped the body and looked around for more targets. There were still several monsters in the room, but they seemed a lot less eager to get close to him now. A few were actually backing away, heads low and growls uncertain. Interesting. Apparently even these things could learn.
Before he could move toward the remaining creatures, Ava was already sprinting past him. Red flames erupted from her hands as she launched herself at a group of three dogs that had cornered some kid near the vending machines.
"Get away from him!" she yelled, sending a stream of fire that turned the first creature into ash instantly. No hesitation, no uncertainty. She was already getting comfortable with killing.
The other two spun toward her, snarling and showing way too many teeth. She didn't hesitate, just kept blasting them with those red flames like she'd been doing it her whole life. The dogs tried to dodge, but her fire was too fast, too hot. They were burning before they could even move.
Nox watched her work and felt something that might have been approval. 'Would you look at that. Maybe she does have a spine after all.'
She helped the cornered kid to his feet, a freshman by the looks of him, and pointed toward the exit. "Get out of here. Find somewhere safe to hide."
The boy nodded frantically and ran off without even saying thanks. Typical.
Ava turned to face the rest of the cafeteria, her hands still glowing with that faint red aura. There were maybe six or seven dogs left, and they were all staring at her now instead of him. Her fire had their full attention.
"Come on then," she said to them, her voice steady now, determined. "Let's get this over with."
One of the creatures tried to circle around behind her, moving low and quiet. She spun and caught it with a blast of fire before it could get within ten feet. The flames consumed it so fast it didn't even have time to yelp. Another one jumped at her from on top of a table, using the height advantage, and she just grabbed it mid-air. Her hands flared bright red, and the creature basically disintegrated in her grip, turning to ash that fell through her fingers.
Nox had to admit, she was getting the hang of this pretty damn fast. A lot faster than he would have expected from someone who'd been running for her life just twenty minutes ago. Fear was a good teacher, apparently.
The remaining dogs seemed to realize they were completely outmatched. Two of them started backing toward the kitchen doors, tails tucked between their legs.
"Oh no you don't," she said, and chased after them without hesitation.
She disappeared through the swinging kitchen doors, and Nox could hear the whoosh of her flames going off. More burning, more dying. The smell of charred meat drifted out through the doors.
The students behind the serving counter were all just staring at where she'd gone, their faces a mix of terror and awe.
"What the hell was that?" one of them whispered.
"Fire powers," another one said, voice full of disbelief. "She had actual fire powers. Like, real fire coming out of her hands."
"This is so messed up," a third voice added. "First monsters, now people with superpowers?"
Nox walked over to the counter and looked down at them. There were four students crammed back there, all of them looking terrified. Three guys and a girl, all upperclassmen by their uniforms.
"You guys can come out now," he said. "The dogs are dead."
They didn't move. Just stared at him like he might be worse than the monsters.
"Seriously," he said, getting annoyed. "It's safe. For now."
"How do we know you won't kill us?" the oldest-looking one asked. Big guy, probably eighteen, wearing a letterman jacket like this was still a normal day at school.
Nox shrugged. "Because I don't feel like it right now. But that could change if you keep wasting my time."
They scrambled out from behind the counter so fast they were tripping over each other, practically climbing over one another to get away from him.
"We're gonna get out of here," the letterman jacket guy said, not making eye contact, already backing toward the exit.
"Good idea," Nox replied, his voice flat.
They were halfway to the exit when Ava came back through the kitchen doors, wiping ash off her hands onto her already ruined uniform.
"That's all of them in there," she said, looking satisfied. "Kitchen's clear. How many did you get out here?"
Before he could answer, a blue screen popped up in front of his face.
[Combat Summary]
[Plague Hounds Slain: 12]
[Total EXP Gained: 340]
'Wait, that doesn't add up right.' If he needed 100 EXP to level up, and he had 340 plus the 10 from earlier, shouldn't he be at least Level 3 by now?
[Note: Experience requirements increase with each level.]
[Level 2: 100 EXP]
[Level 3: 200 EXP]
[Level 4: 300 EXP]
[Current Level: 1 - Processing...]
"Are you seeing one of those screen things right now?" Ava asked, noticing him staring at empty air.
"Yeah," he said, still reading the notifications. "It's telling me how many of those things I killed."
"How many?"
"Twelve."
Her eyes went wide. "Twelve? In like, two minutes?"
"Something like that."
The screen updated again, and this time it was the good stuff.
[Level Up!]
[You are now Level 2!]
[All stats increased by 1!]
[You have 5 unallocated stat points!]
[Level Up!]
[You are now Level 3!]
[All stats increased by 1!]
[You have 5 unallocated stat points!]
[Current Stats:]
[Strength: 17]
[Agility: 7]
[Stamina: 7]
[Endurance: 7]
[Perception: 7]
[Luck: 4]
[Unallocated Stat Points: 10]
'That's more like it.' He thought about where to put the extra points. Speed would be good, but hitting harder was better. Five more into Strength, five into Agility. Keep it simple.
[Updated Stats:]
[Strength: 22]
[Agility: 12]
He felt the changes immediately. His muscles didn't get bigger, but they felt denser, more compressed. Like someone had replaced his regular muscles with steel cables. When he flexed his fingers experimentally, he could feel the power coiled up in there, waiting to be used.
"So what's your screen telling you?" she asked, genuinely curious now.
"That I leveled up twice and got stronger." He looked at her, studying her face. "What about you? You getting any system messages?"
"Nothing," she said, looking disappointed. "Just the fire thing. No screens, no messages, no nothing."
'That's weird. The notification said I was the first player chosen. So maybe the system really is just for me?' The thought was interesting. Made him feel special in a way that had nothing to do with being a victim.
Another screen popped up, this one showing progress.
[Dungeon Status Update]
[Total Monsters Remaining: 158]
[Dungeon Progress: 8.3%]
One hundred and fifty-eight monsters left. That was a lot, but it also meant a lot more experience points. More levels. More power.
"We need to keep moving," he said to Ava. "There are still a lot more of these things around."
"We?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "So now it's 'we'? I thought you wanted me to leave."
"You're useful," he said with a shrug. "Your fire kills them fast. Faster than me punching them to death. Makes clearing this place more efficient."
"Wow, what a compliment," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm useful. Be still my beating heart."
"Take it or leave it."
She thought about it for a few seconds, then sighed. "Fine. But if you try to leave me to die again, I'm going to burn your ass. And I mean that literally now."
"Fair enough."
They headed toward the cafeteria exit, stepping over dog corpses and scattered debris. The four students had already disappeared, probably running for the main entrance as fast as they could.
"So where to next?" she asked, flexing her fingers and watching little sparks of red dance between them.
He listened carefully. He could hear growling coming from the direction of the gymnasium, lots of it. And there were scratching sounds from the second floor, along with what might have been screaming.
"Gym first," he said. "Sounds like there's a whole pack down there."
"Lead the way," she said, and he could hear the excitement in her voice now instead of fear.
Yeah, she was definitely getting the hang of this. Maybe having a partner wouldn't be so bad after all. As long as she stayed useful.